Abstract
Objective
To examine acceptability, attrition, adherence, and preliminary efficacy of mobile
phone short message service (SMS; text messaging) for monitoring healthful behaviors
in children.
Design
All randomized children received a brief psychoeducational intervention. They then
either monitored target behaviors via SMS with feedback or via paper diaries (PD)
or participated in a no-monitoring control (C) for 8 weeks.
Setting
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Participants
Fifty-eight children (age 5-13) and parents participated; 31 completed (SMS: 13/18,
PD: 7/18, C: 11/22).
Intervention
Children and parents participated in a total of 3 group education sessions (1 session
weekly for 3 weeks) to encourage increasing physical activity and decreasing screen
time and sugar-sweetened beverage consumption.
Main Outcome Measures
Treatment acceptability, attrition, and adherence to self-monitoring.
Analysis
Descriptive statistics and nonparametric tests were used to analyze differences across
time and group.
Results
Children in SMS had somewhat lower attrition (28%) than both PD (61%) and C (50%),
and significantly greater adherence to self-monitoring than PD (43% vs 19%, P < .02).
Conclusions and Implications
Short message service may be a useful tool for self-monitoring healthful behaviors
in children, although the efficacy of this approach needs further study. Implications
suggest that novel technologies may play a role in improving health.
Key Words
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Article info
Footnotes
Support for this research project was provided by the Ambulatory Pediatric Association Young Investigator Award; an unrestricted gift from the Gatorade Company for the Get Kids in Action Partnership with the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; National Institutes of Health grants 5T32MH19111-15 and DK56350 and an Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung German-American Trans-Coop grant.
Identification
Copyright
© 2008 SOCIETY FOR NUTRITION EDUCATION. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
